Part 46

Tbn Mas‘ud 4 said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah say: ‘Verily, most of the sins of the son of Adam come from his tongue.”

' Surat al-Isra’, verse 20.

2 Surat al-Anfal, Verse 9.

3 Recorded by al-Tirmidhi.

* Recorded by al-Tabarani, Ion Abi Dunya and al-Bayhagi.

The Prophet 3 said: “When a man gets up in the morning, all the limbs humble themselves before his tongue and say: ‘Fear Allah for our sake, for we are dependent on you; if you are straight we are straight, but if you are crooked we are crooked.’”! He 3 also said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should talk about what is good or keep quiet (i.e. abstain from all kinds of bad and unclean talk).””

Allah 4 has made it very clear in the following verse: (Say to My Servants that they should only say the best; Satan wants to stir trouble between them)’.

The eighteenth shield: Safeguarding the “belly” - earning what is lawful and avoiding the unlawful

1. The prohibition of dealing with riba (usury)

Tbn Mas‘ud <2 said: “The Messenger of Allah 3 invoked a curse upon any person who accepted. interest (riba) and the one who paid it.”* Jabir ibn ‘Abdillah said, in another narration: “The Messenger of Allah cursed the accepter of interest (riba) and its payer, the one who recorded it, and the two witnesses, and he 3 said: ‘They are all equal.””*

1 Recorded by al-Tirmidhi.

? Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim. 3 Surat al-Isra’, Verse 53.

4 Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim. * Recorded by Muslim.

Samurrah ibn Jundub 2 said: “The Messenger of Allah 3¢ very often used to ask his companions: ‘Did anyone of you have a dream?’ So dreams would be narrated to him by those whom Allah wished to relate. One morning, he 4 said: ‘Last night two persons came to me (in a dream) and woke me up, telling me: ‘Proceed!’ I set out with them and we came across a man lying down, and behold, another man was standing over his head, holding a big rock. Behold, he was throwing the rock at the man's head, injuring it. The rock rolled away and the thrower followed after it and picked it up. By the time he reached the man, his head had returned to its normal state. The thrower then did the same as he had done before. I said to my two companions: ‘Subhan Allah! Who are these two persons?’ They said: ‘Proceed!’ So we proceeded and came to a man lying flat on his back and another man standing over his head with an iron hook, and behold, he would put the hook in one side of the man’s mouth and tear off that side of his face to the back (of the neck) and similarly tear his nose from front to back and his eye from front to back. Then he turned to the other side of the tmian’s face and did just as he had done with the other side. He had hardly completed one side when the other side returned to its normal state. Then he returned to repeat what he had done to it before. I said to my two companions: ‘Subhan Allah! Who are these two persons?’ They said to me: ‘Proceed!’ So we proceeded and came across something like a Tannur (a kind of baking oven; a pit usually claylined for baking bread).” I think the Prophet 3% said: ‘In that oven there was so much noise and many voices.’ The Prophet 3 added: ‘We looked into it and found naked men and women there, and behold, a flame of fire was reaching to them from underneath, and when it reached them, they cried out loudly. I asked them: ‘Who are these?’ They said to me: ‘Proceed!’ And so we proceeded and came across a river.” I think he said: ‘...red like blood.’ The Prophet 4 added: ‘And behold, in the river there was 2 man swimming, and on the bank there was a man who had collected many stones. Behold, while the other man was swimming, he went near him. The former opened his mouth and the latter (on the bank) threw a stone into his mouth whereupon he continued swimming again. He returned and every time the performance was repeated. I asked my two companions: ‘Who are these (two) persons?’ They replied: ‘Proceed! Proceed!’ And we proceeded till we came to a man with a repulsive appearance, the most repulsive appearance you could ever seea man have! Beside him there

was a fire and he was kindling it and running around it. I asked my companions: ‘Who is this (man)?’ They said to me: ‘Proceed! Proceed!’ So we proceeded till we reached a garden of dense dark green vegetation, having all sorts of spring colours. In the midst of the garden there was. a very tall man but I could hardly see his head because of his great height, and around him there were children in such a large number as | have never seen (before). I said to my companions: “Who is this?’ They replied: ‘Proceed! Proceed!’ So we proceeded till we came to an enormous majestic garden, greater and better than I have ever seen (before)! My two companions said to me: ‘Go up,’ and I went up.” The Prophet 4 added: “So we ascended till we reached a city built of gold and silver bricks and we went to its gate and asked (the gatekeeper) to open the gate, and it was opened, and we eritered the city and found within it men with one side of their bodies as handsome as the handsomest person you have ever seen, and the other side as ugly as the ugliest person you have ever seen. My two companions ordered those men to throw themselves into the river. Behold, there was a river flowing through (the city), and its water was like milk in whiteness. Those men went and threw themselves in it and then returned to us after the ugliness (of their bodies) had disappeared, so they became the best in shape.” The Prophet 3 further added: “My two companions (angels) said to me: ‘This place is Eden, Paradise, and that is your place.’ I looked up, and behold, there I saw a palace like a white cloud! My two companions said to me: ‘That (palace) is your place.’ I said to them: ‘May Allah bless you both! Let me enter it.’ They replied: ‘As for now, you will not enter it, but you shall enter it (one day). I said to them: ‘I have seen many wonders tonight. What does all that which I have seen mean?’ They replied: “We will inform you: As for the first man you came upon whose head was being injured with the rock, he is the symbol of the one who studies the Qur’an and then neither recites it nor acts on its orders, and sleeps, neglecting the enjoined prayers. As for the man you came upon whose sides of mouth, nostrils and eyes were torn off from front to back, he is the symbol of the man who goes out of his house in the morning and tells so many lies that it spreads all over the world. And those naked men and women whom you saw in a construction resembling an oven, they are the adulterers and the adulteresses, and the man whom you saw swimming in the river and given a stone to swallow, is the consumer of usury (riba) and the bad looking man whom you saw near the fire

kindling it and going round it, is Malik, the gatekeeper of Hell and the tall man whom you saw in the garden, is Abraham and the children around him are those children who die with al-fitrah (the Islamic Faith).” The narrator added: Some Muslims asked the Prophet 4: “O Messenger of Allah! What about the children of pagans?” The Prophet replied: “And also the children of pagans.” The Prophet 38 added: “My two companions added: ‘The men you saw half handsome and half ugly were those persons who had mixed an act that was good with another that was bad, but Allah forgave them.”

2. The prohibition of bribery

3. The prohibition of accepting a price for a dog or the earnings of a prostitute

Abu Juhayfah # reported that the Prophet # cursed any lady who practices tattooing or gets herself tattooed, and one who eats (takes) riba (usury) or gives it. And he 4 prohibited accepting a price for a dog, and the money earned from prostitution, and also cursed the makers of pictures.”*

4. The Prohibition of consuming an orphan’s wealth

Allah 3% said: (People who consume the property of orphans, wrongfully, consume nothing in their bellies, except fire)’. We have already mentioned the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah regarding major sins, among which the Prophet 38 mentioned: “consuming an orphan’s wealth.”

Al-Suday said: “The one who consumes an orphan’s wealth will be made to turn up on the Day of Resurrection with a flame coming out

' Recorded by al-Bukhari.

Recorded Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi who categorised it as hasan sahih. > Recorded by al-Tabarani.

* Recorded by al-Bukhari.

5 Surat al-Nisa’, Vesre 10

from his mouth, ears, nose, eyes; and everyone who sees him will recognise him as a consumer of an orphan’s wealth.”!

5. Preserving oneself from doubtful things

Al-Nu‘man ibn Bashir 4% reported that he heard the Prophet # saying: “Both legal and illegal things are evident, but in between them there are doubtful (dubious) things, about which most of the people have no knowledge. So whoever saves himself from these dubious things saves his religion and his honour. But whoever indulges in these dubious things is like a shepherd who grazes his animals near the hima (private pasture) of someone else, and at any moment he is liable to walk into it. O people! Beware, every king has a hima, and the hima of Allah on the earth is His illegal (forbidden) things. Beware, there is a piece of flesh in the body, if it becomes good (reformed), the whole body becomes good, but if it gets spoiled, the whole body gets spoilt, and that is the heart.”?